


Offerings

by thesometimeswarrior



Series: Avatar: The Last Airbender Canon Divergence AUs [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Episode: s02e08 The Chase, Ficlet, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Injury, Uncle-Nephew Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-10-19 10:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10638441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesometimeswarrior/pseuds/thesometimeswarrior
Summary: Iroh becomes distracted, and Azula sees her opening, sends the lightening hurling to Zuko's chest.Hewill notlose his nephew.Iroh begs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly, the episode The Chase has been on my mind.
> 
> Thanks to ao3 user ohmygodwhy for talking me through this idea!

He falls to his knees before the smoke even clears, is groping for the body before he can see it.

 _Zuko!_

He’s not sure whether his nephew’s name leaves his mouth or whether it remains painfully lodged in the part of him that he tried for so long to bury and has only recently begun to excavate, the one which sags when he thinks of Ba Sing Se. And in this moment, he does not, _cannot_ care. He knows only that his nephew lay unmoving on the dusty ground, that the scorch mark on his chest where Azula’s lightening hit is dark and angry, that his breathing is labored, that his groaning is faint, and his pulse is fainter, is growing fainter… “No, Zuko, please!” 

It’s a plea, and it’s as useless as his tears were after the end of the Siege. Zuko will fight—is fighting now—as he always does, angry and relentless, regardless of whether Iroh begs him to or not. But the strength of a firey will and gritted teeth isn’t enough, not when lightning has hit so close to the heart. ( _Why_ hadn’t he taught him to redirect it?) Zuko needs medical attention, and quickly, and Iroh’s skills are insufficient...and Zuko cannot die... _Please,_ Agni, he cannot die…

( _I cannot do this again. Please, Agni, not again…Please, not_ him…)

There is a soft gasp from behind, and Iroh suddenly remembers the Avatar and his friends. (How could he have forgotten—when he had been so concerned with them, with the Earth Kingdom girl he had met in hills and her relationship to the Avatar, that he had looked away from Zuko again, had allowed his niece to…) 

Iroh turns to see the four children, stunned still and silent, each with some variation of wide eyes and a jaw hanging wider. And he sees the girl from the Water Tribe, her pouch full of water hanging at her side, recalls that she spent several weeks at the North Pole, has surely learned healing in addition to combat skills….

“Please,” he says, ignoring all of them but her, and throwing himself from his knees to a prostration at her feet. “You have healing abilities, do you not? I beg you, help him.”

“I…” She seems taken aback by the request, and Iroh lifts his head to look at her, to, he hopes, express to her something of his desperation.

“Let me get this straight,” interrupts her brother, stepping in front of her. “You want Katara to save the jerk who invaded our village, chased us all around the world, and tried to kidnap our best friend.”

“I understand how you must feel about my nephew, but he is a complicated young man—“

“Oh, he’s _complicated_!” says the Water Tribe boy, the sarcasm flowing off his tongue. “That changes _everything_!”

“His life has been tumultuous, and he has been confused, but there is good inside him.”

“And _if_ Katara heals him, what’s to stop him from coming after us again?”

“Because I will go with you as ransom—as a prisoner—if you would like,” Iroh responds before he even notices the idea appear in his mind. “I will do anything you ask of me. You,” he turns to the Avatar. “Will require a Firebending teacher, will you not? I am a Master; I can teach you.”

“I don’t want a Firebending teacher,” says the Avatar quietly, to Iroh’s surprise. If it were any other moment, he would puzzle over this, would attempt to find the source of the Avatar’s unease at the prospect of learning the element, or at least, of having a teacher, strategize, perhaps, about what this hesitance might mean for the Order. But now, there is no room in him for such queries. His focus is singular.

“Then,” he says, “I can provide information about the Fire Nation and its military. Anything.”

The Water Tribe boy creases his eyebrows. “You would do _that_ for him?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I regard him as my own son. Because I have already let him down far too many times. And I cannot lose him.” 

“Katara, just heal him!” The Earth Kingdom girl from the hills shouts it, startling all of them. “This guy is begging for his nephew’s life, and you people are just standing here! I know you and I don’t always agree on everything, Sugar Queen, but I didn’t think you were the type to let someone die if you could help it!”

“No offense, Toph,” The Water Tribe boy turns to her. “But you weren’t there when he—“

“No, she’s right,” says Katara quietly. Then, she kneels down next to where Iroh is still prostrating himself, turns to him. “Help me get his shirt off.”

And when, later, Zuko stirs, groaning, and murmuring “Uncle,” as tears prickle at Iroh’s eyes, he notes that even if he never has his freedom again for as long as he lives, it will have been worth it.

“You are alright, Prince Zuko,” he says, smoothing his nephew’s hair. “You are going to be alright.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Please consider leaving a review!


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